An automatic call distributor (ACD) is a system that facilitates the management of incoming and outgoing calls at telephone call centers. Traditionally, an ACD consisted of a specialized telephone switch for routing customer calls to available agents. The method for routing such calls is typically based on obtaining an equitable distribution of calls for each agent.
Today, like all business entities, call centers are experiencing incredible growth due to an increasingly interconnected, global and digital world. Incident to the operation of call centers is the accumulation of vast quantities of valuable information. In response to the availability of such information, owners of these call centers are demanding ACD systems with more sophisticated information management and channeling capabilities. Thus, modern ACD systems commonly incorporate various management tools including automated call identification, automated agent selection, automated call distribution, automated voice response, data integration, voice messaging, automated outbound call management, and real time displays that forecast load and analyze historical data.
Furthermore, modern ACD systems typically use improved methods for routing calls other than the traditional method based on equitable distribution. One such method is skill based routing. Skill based routing is typically based on the identity of the caller or on the number called and enables a call center to route calls to the agent most qualified to handle the customer request. When coupled, for example, with additional services such as a Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS) that identifies a particular service number called by a customer, skill based routing can greatly increase the productivity of a call center.
While skill based methods for routing calls are commonly found in modern ACD systems, there is no known analogous development of a language based method of routing calls. However, in an increasingly global business environment, the need to identify the native language of customers is obvious. For example, when a customer answers the phone during an outdialing campaign, she may not necessarily speak the same language as the agent handling the call. Thus, regardless of any advantages that skill based routing might provide, such language barriers lead to confusion between the agent and customer which ultimately decreases productivity for the call center.
In March 1997, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the foreign born population of the United States was 25.8 million. This represents the largest foreign born population in United States history and an increase of 30 percent over the 1990 statistics (see Schmidley, A. Dianne and Campbell Gibson, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, Series P23-195, Profile of the Foreign Born Population in the United States: 1997, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 1999). Furthermore, marketing studies and commentaries have suggested that people feel more comfortable conducting business in their native languages (see “Spanish Language Advertising Most Effective, Even For Bilingual”, Minority Markets Alert, Vol. 6, No. 12, Dec. 1, 1994; Hamlyn, Helen, “Speaking the language of your customer”, Telemarketing, Vol. 11, No. 12, Jun. 1, 1993). Therefore, with the significant increase of non-English speaking households in the United States, call centers must be able to identify and service customers in their native languages in order to conduct effective business.